On forums like GBA Temp, Reddit, and 4chan, there are dozens of pages where people are trying to figure out if their systems have been banned. According to online reports, users hit by the ban hammer are seeing an “Error Code: 002-0102" when they try to load up their friends list:

While it’s difficult to pinpoint a commonality between all affected users, many admit to downloading custom firmware to the system. With custom firmware, users can alter their 3DSes, use emulators, dump game cartridges, and more. Others say they have pirated games for the 3DS, while some claim they didn’t do anything at all, but were banned anyway. (We cannot verify such claims.)

Speaking to Kotaku, Nintendo gave a general sense of what systems they are targeting:

As a result of a number of users making unauthorized system modifications, playing unauthorized versions of one or more games and/or connecting to the game servers in violation of our terms of service, Nintendo has banned those users’ systems from accessing its online network, effective immediately.

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Banned users say they can still use their systems, but are prohibited from playing online or using services like Miiverse. Some players say they’re calling Nintendo’s support hotline to plead for their systems, or using multiple 3DS systems to bypass the bans. Others, meanwhile, are having a more intense reaction to this turn of events: